March 30, 2009 DiagnosticImaging.com. UPDATE -- X-ray contrast case: Bracco wins $11.4 M in damages from GE By Greg Freiherr Buoyed by last week's U.S. District Court decision, Bracco Diagnostics is anything but shy about saying GE Healthcare used "false and misleading advertising and marketing" to gain an advantage for its Visipaque x-ray contrast agent over Bracco's Isovue product. But how -- or even whether -- the company will use the legal finding in its future marketing of Isovue is a… Continue

March 27, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Congress intervenes to force continued nuclear medicine funding at DOE By James Brice Nuclear medicine advocates enlisting the help of Congress have forced the Department of Energy to continue to fund basic research for radioisotope and imaging instruments design, despite DOE plans to use its scientists to develop nuclear imaging tools for biological and environmental applications. At the urging of SNM, Congress included language in the fiscal 2009… Continue

radRounds (NEW YORK) -- We recently came across a novel and interesting job search tool for radiologists. Enter into the market, TopRadiologistJobs (http://www.topradiologistjobs.com)

It is a non-profit service that is simply an aggregator. It takes all the job postings from all the web resources/job sites (i.e. ACR radiologist job boards, RSNA radiologist job boards, etc) using job search engines Indeed.com and SimplyHired.com. All the… Continue

March 26, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Radiologist slapped with $2 million fine for billing fraud blames recordkeeping By James Brice A radiologist implicated in one of the largest billing fraud cases in Medicare history is blaming poor recordkeeping for a federal investigation and prosecution that led him and his partner to a $2 million settlement with Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. Settlement terms were announced March 25. To settle Medicare's false claims… Continue

March 25, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Decision-analytic model guides cervical cancer treatment By Rebekah Moan MRI and/or PET/CT can help physicians determine appropriate treatment for cervical cancer patients as well as prevent unnecessary therapy, according to a study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology. Treatment of patients with cervical cancer involves two options. The first is surgery with or without postoperative adjuvant chemoradiation (chemotherapy and radiation therapy).… Continue

radRounds (NEW YORK) -- A few months back, we featured a website and artwork at RadiologyArt.com - a talented artist turned medical student (bound for radiology, we might add) has gotten the well-deserved recognition by the New York Times in this week's Science section. Very cool, simply said. Satre's work made it to the front page of the NYTimes.com website tonight. Here is a screen capture. \uap style="text-align: left;">

March 20, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. CT computer-aided volumetry fast tracks pneumothorax measurement Rebekah Moan Potential deadly traumatic pneumothoraces can be measured in the emergency room with a computer-aided volumetric technique that helps move patients from diagnosis to treatment many times faster than conventional visual assessments of the condition with multislice CT. The new approach, developed at Massachusetts General Hospital, has potential implications for the 30% to 39% of chest… Continue

Hi guys, just thought I would let you know that \uaa href="http://radiopaedia.org">Radiopaedia.org is now accepting applications for the next round of \uaa href="http://radiopaedia.org/editors">Section Editor Positions. It is a great low stress way to enhance your CV while doing a little study. At the same time you are contributing to one of the fastest growing collaborative radiology resource online. Preference will be given to existing users… Continue

March 19, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. ‘Detection’ takes on new meaning at Madoff-connected radiology center By James Brice A small part of the answer to the question about what happened to the $65 billion bilked from investors in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme may lie in a Hoboken, NJ, diagnostic imaging service. Ruth Madoff, wife of the disgraced New York financier, purchased a 21.25% share in Hoboken Radiology five years ago, according to Bloomberg News. Madoff is one of nine investors who own… Continue

March 18, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Cognition-enhancing modafinil shows addictive properties By James Brice Students may think they are getting smarter from the cognitive boost possible with prescription drug modafinil. They need to learn, however, that claims about its lack of serious side effects are wrong. A National Institutes of Health study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (2009;301[11]:1148-1154) used PET to demonstrate that modafinil can be… Continue

According to Bloomberg News (3/17/09): "Assets sought by prosecutors include the Madoffs’ interest in Hoboken Radiology LLC. Ruth Madoff is one of nine members of Hoboken Radiology, a radiology practice in Hoboken, New Jersey, said Gary Berger, its administrator. She invested in the business in 2004, Berger said. He declined to say how… Continue

March 16, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Groups challenge plan to slash imaging technology payments By H.A. Abella Access to Medical Imaging Coalition, a partnership among various professional and trade political interests, has rebutted a proposal by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission to change the formula for calculating practice expense relative value units for advanced imaging exams. Coalition members argue that MedPAC's plan is based on flawed information. They point to an independent… Continue

We have launched the radRounds Anonymized Radiology Forums per many many requests from our users. You can visit the \uaa href="http://www.radrounds.net">anonymized radiology forum here! Check it out and let us know what you think. \uaa href="http://www.radrounds.net">\uap style="text-align: left;">

March 13, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Second look at x-ray, CT exams could reduce diagnostic errors By James Brice Simple physician checklists, diagnostic decision-support systems, or second looks at medical imaging exams could help to reduce the estimated 40,000 to 80,000 hospital deaths in the U.S. from diagnostic errors. Writing for the March 11 Journal of the American Medical Association, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine physicians Dr. David Newman-Toker and Dr. Peter Pronovost… Continue